The Painted Thumb

Ok, I haven't had any comments on this blog on an post for many, many months. The only post that seems to get any traffic is my 2015 post about Star Fleet Battles.  I don't fully understand why that post has generated so much interest, while the rest of my content has been mostly ignored.  Clearly, this has not been an successful blog. I get much more traffic with my Facebook content and the YouTube channel is showing promise. Perhaps the subjects of my posts have been too random. I may need to focus on a specific game or subject. Maybe I didn't generate enough posts to keep the audience connected. Whatever the case, I am ending this blog with this final post.  I'm calling it a 'permanent vacation' because the blog and posts will still be here, though I will not be adding any new content. I might continue to comment on the SFB post since that is still generating traffic 3 years after it was published. To anyone who might still be reading, I say 'Thank

Hey all! This year, I made the trip to ReaperCon in Denton, Texas.  This is new for me because I have never been to this convention and I am more focused on the gaming rather than the painting segment of the hobby. But I do want to improve my painting skills and learning from better painters is a way to improve. Another new challenge was that I decided to do a video blog of my experience at ReaperCon. aka a 'VLOG'.  This is a new way to share content with friends and hobbyists and it was exciting to try. And I was able to take the trip with my brother who lives out of state, that made it fun as well. We took classes, painted figs, took the factory tour, and entered the painting competition all in just three days! Below is the link to the VLOG playlist. Most the videos are less than 10 minutes long. All the videos together comes out to 56 minutes if you play them all in order. Enjoy!

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules. We have reached the final turns of the scenario. Turn 30 is the last turn, when we will count the number of cities captured by the Soviets and determine the margin of victory. The Soviets currently have 10 cities captured. The US is building a supply network in southern Iran. Can they reach the Iranian cities in time to help defend? Most of the air missions and ground assaults have been reduced due to decreasing supply for both sides. Turn 26 - US/Iran still have the initiative On Land: The last few Iranian infantry brigades move toward Esfahan. The Soviets assault the city of Kashan and capture it. This is the 11th city for the Soviets. This qualifies them for a 'marginal victory'. At Sea: The US LHA carrier with a compliment of AV-8 Harrier aircraft, moves northwest to the Iranian port city of Abadan. In the Air: Harriers launch air strikes against Soviet targets approaching Ahraz, but are ineffecti

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The fighting continues. Air missions have been limited due to reduced supply points. Turn 23 - US/Iran still have the initiative On Land: US continues to build up supply lines further into Iran from the south. The Soviets do the same from the north. US makes an attack on the weakened Soviet brigades that have moved behind the Afghanistan border. 101st Airborne takes damage and does nothing to the Soviets. Soviets mass a huge force around the city of Arak and begin the assault.  Arak militia defends successfully and stays in Iranian control for another turn. In the Air: Backfire bombers travel far to the east over Soviet airspace to avoid AWACS detection and provides close air support for the fight in Afghanistan. US sends F-111s and an A-6 from the CV-68 to counter the Backfires but are damaged and fail the mission. At Sea: CV-68 moves into the Gulf of Oman and in sight of the Iranian shore. Turn 24

Our local Team Yankee community has a regular game night called 'Cold War Thursdays'. I was able to make it out to the store about a month ago. Chris had enough USMC figs to make a 75 point list for me to use. He took an equivalent West German force. We played out a NATO-v-NATO version of the Hasty Attack scenario. I am currently building a list that is heavy on Cobras and Hueys. Chris had plenty of air units to choose from. So, I grabbed all the Hueys and deployed them with a platoon of Marines loaded inside. The Leopards were absolutely deadly! The majority of my force was wiped out by three of them. My Humvees were the only unit that could even put a scratch on them. The Hueys were useful at moving troops forward quickly. I was able to drop the Marines nearby an objective. There was a squad of grenadiers inside a house close enough to still hold the objective. Except for the Leopards, most of the Germans were wiped out quickly. The Marines cleared the hou

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The fighting continues as both sides suffer from limited supply points. Turn 20 - US/Iran still have the initiative In the Air: US F-111 aircraft start bombing missions from Konark air bases. They hit the Soviets around Karmanshah in an effort to help the Iranian defenses. B-52s bomb stacks of Soviets around Karmanshah. Soviet Backfire bombers hit an Iranian hovercraft flotilla in port and sink it. The flotilla did not represent any strategic importance, except to help Soviets gain the initiative by counting more hits. On Land: SpecOps use Long Range Recon Patrols to help B-52s and F-111s hit Soviet targets at Karmanshah. Soviet Mechanized Divisions have Karmanshah surrounded and continue the assault despite US air support. At Sea: BB Wisconsin begins bombardment of the Yemen base to allow US carrier task group to pass the Arabian peninsula safely. Yemen base launches Su-24 bombers to intercept the BB a

The "Soviet-Persian War" continues using the Gulf Strike rules . The Soviets are moving further south in Iran. The Americans now have supply chain problems. There are two points of failure. A Soviet heavy cruiser is bombarding the supply head at Diego Garcia The supply chain has been broken at Konark. Turn 18 - In Air; F-4s bomb a supply depot in Afghanistan, further weakening the Soviets there. Soviet Backfires make a conventional bombing attack on Iranian Militia in Hamadan, but the militia gets some incredibly lucky rolls and put a hit on the bombers. This forces the bombers to retreat. Su-24s provide close air support for the assault on Hamadan and Qom. On Land; SpecOps raids destroy a truck unit in Afghanistan. Soviets push out the remaining militia and capture the holy city of Qom. At Sea; The Soviet CA is finally sunk by an American SSN. This is the last Soviet naval unit in the Indian Ocean. US heavy transport ships reach the friendly port in Somalia.